Big Cat coordinated the theatricality of the player’s introductions and created a musical and visual identity through the use of an innovative light show.

The build of the exhibition took 2 weeks during which Big Cat worked along side the venue’s in-house crew (muchas gracias) and Victory Hill Entertainment who designed the show.  Long hours and hard work paid off as the finished show looks amazing.

You can check out photos of the build and completed show as well as a daily video diary here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigcatevents/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixyBIHHoc-s

http://www.cac.es/prensa/noticia/?contentId=115554

After recently completing a degree in Theatre, performance and Event Design at Birmingham City University, I began scouting around online for event companies that could offer me an internship. With my aspirations in mind, I contacted The Custard Factory Events team enquiring about possible work placement opportunities. I have always loved The Custard Factory and it has been an ambition of mine to work at events there. Within a week, I had an interview at Big Cat, quit my part time job, worked at my first event and began my 3 month internship as an Event Executive. Fortunately, my course prepared me for the fast pace of the events industry so this was all second nature to me. I have thoroughly enjoyed my first week in the company of all the lovely staff at Big Cat and am quickly learning the roles and responsibilities of a member of the events team. I look forward to my first wedding next week at The Old Library and to many more exciting events in the future.

Situated within Birmingham’s creative community The Custard Factory, The Old Library was the perfect venue for such an event. It’s souring vaulted ceilings and stunning stain glass windows streamed an almost holy glow of light onto busy shoppers, creating an electric energy which only facilitated in the ferocious exchange of money for goods.

Queues streamed down Digbeth High street with people of all ages, willing for the chance to enter The Old Library and be part of the whirlwind of sales within. Inside there was a fantastic old-school unity between stall holders creating an essence of community, which nowadays is a novelty when comparing it to the modern experience of shopping that most have to endure in more corporate large chain stores or shopping centres. This unique Buzz continued solidly from open to close, leaving stall holders exhausted and elated at their empty stalls, and shoppers with endless bags of quality exclusive bargains. To top it all off the organisers had hand-made 200 of the most imaginative cup-cakes in flavours that were truly delicious and so popular they could have sold out 3 times over.   

Not only was this a day of shopping, but a day of fun, excitement and mystery, allowing each to discover the most perfect one-off vintage item they could find. The old library has such a historic and magical essence to it, you couldn’t ask for a better venue. Is this not the sort of shopping we should get to experience all the time? The Vintage Fair returns on June 12^th for its next mini adventure.

Big Cat managed the advancing of the show and all Health and Safety content which included security, police fire and first aid provision, road closures, TEN applications, SAG management, build and break safety advancing, site risk management and sign off with all elements culminating in the event manual document. Big Cat had overall site responsibility pre, during and post the event.

We are happy to report another successful safe event for Birmingham under the Big Cat team.

The following article explained a new style of event in Canada where essentially hundreds of singles attend an event and ‘flitter’; a mix between Twitter and flirting.

Each singleton is given a number on a sticker (e.g. #129) and during a drink if you like the look of a potential ‘love of your life’ you twitter their number and start a flirtatious conversation on your phone whilst at a distance. One guest twitted “#129, you’re so fine, but #152 you’re hot too.”

Call me an old romantic but is this a little wrong, what’s happened to asking a women out on a date face to face? Aren’t the nerves, sweaty palms and crackling voice all part of the excitement of finding a potential soul mate?

I’m glad to be out of the dating game.

If you are looking to break into the event industry and are finding it a tricky task in such hard times this could be the opportunity you are looking for. The lucky person will gain tons of great experience working within a busy events team. This is an unpaid, full time placement that could lead to a paid position within the company, or at the very least some valuable experience and a great reference. Which is an absolute must when breaking into the events industry. The applicant needs to be driven, hard working and outgoing with a passion for events.

Please email L.campbell@bcguk.com if you think you could become a part of the Big Cat family!!

rss

Seeing the bride arrive looking super cool in a 40s inspired dress and bright red lipstick, to the transformation of the space that had to occur from simple and elegant for the ceremony to a retro cool ambiance for the evening do, made the whole day a interesting challenge for me. The sun shined for the barbecue and drinks on the bandstand, everyone drank lots of wine and danced the night away. What I have noticed working on the various weddings this summer is how young the couples are.

Everyone talks about how society is waiting longer to settle down and is putting off marriage, but from the weddings I have witnessed that isn’t the case. Maybe it is due to the Custard’s factory’s arty, bohemian feel that the people attracted to the venue are younger. Whatever the case, I love the young Weddings that tend to be far more inventive with their themes, giving us organisers lots of fun ideas to work with.

I then took a walk along the cliffs and found that a section of the footpath had been closed due to insufficient railings being in situ. The footpath was over 3m wide and I found this level of precaution completely ridiculous. Surely everyone on this planet has to take a degree of responsibility over their own actions and constantly assess the risk of situations they face.

If I was with a young child I would then assess a situation on their behalf and them observing your actions is one of life’s learning experiences.

Having studied Product Design and Marketing at Southampton Institute, Nick joined the Big Cat team in 2008 and made quite an impact. Within a year Nick has already worked on some of the regions most prestigious events including Hello Digital; Birmingham’s first digital media and film event and the Creative City Awards.

Nick said: “Big Cat has given me many unique and fantastic opportunities in such a small space of time. Events I’ve worked on range from the URA Star concert which was for 6,000 people at the NIA, to the more corporate Innovation Advisory Service workshops which are run in conjunction with Business Link.

“2010 is set to be another outstanding year for us with a number of high-profile events both in the private and public sector. The past year has been a struggle for the events industry across the country as many clients are severely cutting budgets and expecting a lot for nothing, however it’s our job to make the most of the resources we have and ensure our suppliers are competitive which will in turn ensure the events we put on are something to be proud of.”

Congratulations Nick you deserve it.

As the newest member to the Big Cat Group, I am reporting to you my experiences of various events from a new perspective. One of the recent events that has caught my eye is the T-Mobile’s new Life’s for Sharing campaign’s flash mob event, that made quite an impact throughout the world. The first event was the hugely popular impromptu dance off in the middle of Liverpool Street station that, considering 6 million of us watched on YouTube, I am sure you will have seen it?

So here’s my question of the week: What do you think of flash mobs? Do you know what they are? Love em? Over them already? Whatever you think, Birmingham needs one. Soon! Hmmm, this could be worthy challenge for Big Cat. Do you want to see 500 dancers – or jugglers? mime artists? opera singers even? – in Victoria Square? I know I do! Watch this space….. 

The new events girl, Leila.